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  • March Violets

  • Bernie Gunther, Book 1
  • By: Philip Kerr
  • Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
  • Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (185 ratings)

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March Violets

By: Philip Kerr
Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
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Summary

Brutal ex-convicts or the Nazi elite - in Bernie Gunther's world it's hard to tell who are the real gangsters. Hard-boiled noir thriller for fans of Raymond Chandler and John le Carré.

Ex-Berlin cop and private detective Bernie Gunther has seen his share of bad guys. But when the worst guys of all are the ones running the show, it's much harder to stay out of their reach.

Hired by a wealthy industrialist to investigate the murder of his daughter and her husband in an apparent botched robbery, Bernie soon finds himself drawn into the complex - not to mention lethal - internal politics and corruption of the Nazi party. When Hermann Goering himself calls Bernie in with a task for him that throws his existing case into a whole new light, he must weigh up his hatred of the Nazis against his desire to stay alive.

©2016 Thynker Limited (P)2021 Quercus Editions Limited
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Critic reviews

"One of the greatest anti-heroes ever written." (Lee Child)

What listeners say about March Violets

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great story and narration

Some did not like Jonathan Keeble's narration. I think his gruff voice works well with Gunther's anti-hero persona, German accent not required (btw, there isn't just 'one' German accent). I also appreciate that Keeble is reading the whole series, which allows me to associate one voice with Gunther and brings the character closer i.m.o.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great stuff!

Enthralling storyline, first class narration. All in all a fabulous audiobook. I highly recommend. Looking forward to book two.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Brilliant
Felt like I was there..
Taken back to another time in life.
Lest we forget .

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly read.

Quite a lot of detailed violence but considering the setting to be expected. Having lived in Berlin the geography was accurate and interesting although Tegel airport is pronounced Tay-gal not Tee-gal. Gives an understanding of what it was like living under the Nazis and how it came about. Looking forward to the other novels in the series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant book excellently read

Great book.

Keeble's reading is a great performance. Only minus is the pronunciation of the German words.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Superbly written and read by the King

I’ll try anything that Keeble reads but I have a fascination about history and WW2.

It took a while to get in to but Bernie’s dry sense of humour pulled me in to this noir pre-war Berlin journey.

Really great read, and excellently read by the master.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Super and so very grounded in the more of Nazi Germany.

I thought about what to write and realised I just had to say “gripping”. Yep. That sums up your journey with Bernie.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent story and narration.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. The narration is excellent, and the storyline is brilliant.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

"A silence born of shame."

Berlin in the preparations for the 1936 Olympic Games, and Bernhard Gunther, a private investigator specialising in finding missing persons, is hired by a steel multi-millionaire to find family diamonds stolen from the safe of his daughter when she and her husband were murdered, their bodies left to be consumed in the fire set to disguise the crime.
This is a fast paced, often brutal, noir detective story, first of the Bernie Gunter series. It is atmospheric with fine descriptions of even bit part protagonists, vividly forming visuals in the reader's mind's eye, with phrases such as a 'pickled walnut of a nose' and an old woman's foot being 'like a butcher's thumb in a thimble'. The language, like the action, can be crude and uncomfortable as Kerr summons up an impression of the period of change and violence.

Read by Jeff Harding, I was initially uncomfortable with the performance but within just a few pages he had become Bernie Gunther, also providing separate and convincing voices for the numerous other protagonists. It is an excellent performance, increasing the pleasure of an already irreverent, cynical and immersive book.

This has been my first encounter with Philip Kerr's Berlin noir detective series, recommended to me by my brother in law shortly before his death two years ago: his favourite author.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

Great story, I read the books and now enjoy the audio books. Would recommend if you like Berlin 1930-50. They should make it into a movie

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